The Rats by James Herbert – rereading a classic

I read The Rats by James Herbert when I was about 11 or 12 and it was one of the most exciting books I had read. Obviously since then as my tastes have matured, developed, and become more discerning. I’ve read more exciting stuff since then – ‘48 by James Herbert, to be precise (the most exciting book ever) – but this is up there in terms of edge of your seat action.

Obviously I am a fan of James Herbert. I also read Lair and Domain back in the 80s and they were incredible as well and on my to be reread list. But if you don’t know James Herbert and are looking for a good place to start, then The Rats is not just the first of his rat-based trilogy, and a cracking read, it is also his first book ever.

So what’s The Rats about?

As anyone who knows anything about horror books can tell you, when there is a species of animal in the title, then that animal is going to suddenly start killing people. Often en masse in gory (and sometime amusing) ways.

The Rats is set in London, roughly 1972 (as that was when it was written), and is essentially about the rats that are ubiquitous but usually timid in the city. I lived in London for over 20 years, my family is from there, and the little (sometimes terrifyingly huge) bastards are everywhere. I used to live between a Chinese restaurant and a fried chicken takeaway in Islington and they would run between the two under my wooden floor boards. I kind of liked them. But they are everywhere.

And this is where the horror comes in – what if, one day, the rats suddenly got smarter and decided to attack humans? That is essentially what The Rats is about.

The book reads as a series of vignettes within an overarching story. There are numerous characters introduced, who are then attacked by rats in entertainingly violent ways. But there’s also a main story about an art teacher called Harris who is the protagonist and someone who sees it all play out. Harris is fleshed out enough that you want him to live and comes across as pretty cool. Herbert is superb, like most horror writers, at creating believable characters that you immediately care about who may or may not die violently in the next few pages.

Reception and my review

The Rats is great. In many ways, you can tell it was Herbert’s first book. It doesn’t quite flow as well as his others, but as he was such a superb writer, that doesn’t really matter. It is still more exciting than most other books.

It was released in 1972 and was somewhat controversial for its gore and violence. It was an innocent time. However, over the last 50 years, readers have become somewhat more used to this kind of things, and it is now not too bad. Or maybe I am sociopath. Or society is broken. Either way, it’s fairly tame.

I loved The Rats and will be rereading the rest of the trilogy imminently. I vaguely remember Domain being post apocalyptic but I think Lair was in current times – as in the 70s.

James Herbert was a superb writer and went on to pen a load of great books, and I am pretty sure I have read them all. But The Rats was his first and is a lot of fun. I highly recommend it.

You can check it out here. Go for it. (I should mention, that’s an affiliate link, like some of those above. Just FYI.)